About Me

Wife to Greg, mom to 7, and grandma to 3! Welcome to a glimpse of our life. It is a place where chaos abounds, tears are shed regularly, laughter is inevitable, and family is EVERYTHING!!!! Everyday is about the choices we make. Let's choose today to be different. To live for him. To find joy in the little stuff. To worry less and to love more. To be who he created us to be. This blog is about my daily "choices" along the way. Won't you join me? It will be a wild ride. But, as I always tell my kids I once heard it said "there ain't no high like the most!”

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sorry I never got back on here last week. Update on my friend: She had surgery and is in rehab. She might be coming home the end of this week but it will be a long recovery(18 months)so keep praying.

Now to our reading. I will be discussing chapters 16 and 17 today and in two weeks will finish the book with chapters 18 and 19. I will be out of town with my hubby next week.

Chapter 16 - Why Diets Don't Work

Diets don't work for me. I seem to be able to sacrifice for a season and then I get tired of sacrificing. I hit my goal weight and then slowly slip back into old habits. The weight creeps back on and I feel like a failure. Like I said, diets don't work for me. So, I'm not on a diet. I'm on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness.(page 158)

Well said and yes it is a fine art and it is a learning process. I realized reading this how much of my life I spend saying I'm on a "diet" but really I am on a journey to establish a healthy eating plan for life.

Now, hear me on this. We aren't to flee food. We need food. But we are to flee the control food can have over our lives.(Page 159)

Great point. I loved how she talked about not becoming legalistic in all of this.

Chapter 17 - The Very Next Choice We Make

Holiness means to be set apart for a noble use. The very next choice we make isn't really about whether or not to eat chips, cookies, or French fries smothered in chili and processed cheese. It's about whether we are going to stay away from those things that are not beneficial for what we are created to be.(page 169)

Life is all about our next choice and our next choice has the power to change our destiny. It can lead to permanent and amazing changes in our life. We get so caught up in the big picture but if we could just break it down into just doing the next thing and doing the right thing. Small steps will inevitably lead to huge changes.

May our prayer be that we too ask God to unsettle us. Sustained discipline is possible. Just make the next choice be the right choice.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Sorry I missed posting yesterday. A dear friend/cousin was in a car accident on Monday night and I have been going to the hospital when I have a spare moment. Please pray for her. She is having surgery on her hip/pelvis today.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

This was another great week of reading!!!! I struggled with the first chapter because I never considered myself an emotional eater. I just like food and I eat way too much of the wrong things but she had a lot of good things to say about emptiness and how we fill it. I know I fill mine with unhealthy things all the time. Shopping is unfortunately one of those things:( Not that there is anything wrong with it but when I am feeling particularly empty I do tend to go drop a bunch of cash that I shouldn't.

Emotional Emptiness - Chapter 14

Emptiness has a way of demanding to be filled. And when I couldn't figure out how to fill what my heart was lacking, my stomach was more than willing to offer a few suggestions.(page 138)

We will always have empty spaces that cry out to be filled that is the feeling given to us so that we would seek God. I pray that I will become more aware if I am eating out of emptiness. I too need to become "unsettled".

It's so easy to park our minds in bad spots. To dwell and rehash and wish things were different. But to think on hard things keeps us in hard spots and only serves to deepen our feelings of emotional emptiness.(page 141)

Ugh! Once again a mind/body connection. We will never behave differently than what we think or dwell on. I do love the story she told about her dad. I remember things being particularly difficult at home when I was young but there was a day where I was on my dad's lap and things seemed so peaceful. I remember staring at a spot on the fireplace and asking God to please allow me to always remember that feeling and that moment every time I looked at that spot on the fireplace. He has been so gracious because I was probably only about 5 but I have never forgotten that moment and it was that happy memory I need to choose to dwell on.

We must deal with our triggers. We must identify our places of emotional emptiness and admit how futile it is to try to fill those places with food.(page 143)

This is crucial. I believe there is something that triggers all sin/struggles in our life. We need to figure out what that is and learn how to handle it when it comes our way. Often time figuring this all out is painful so we avoid it and live a depressed life. It is like lancing a wound. Extremely painful at the time but in the end all you are left with is a scar and scars remind us but they don't hurt anymore.

The Demon in The Chip Poster - Chapter 15 And the power was to acknowledge that I'm not yet at a place where I can handle just a few chips. My brokenness cannot support that kind of freedom. (page 149)

We do need to place boundaries on ourselves for protection not to bring harm. Recognizing we are not ready for certain freedoms is crucial to our success. It is like an alcoholic who knows not to go to a bar or just have one glass of wine with dinner. Food is no different to the overweight person struggling with food. But I also love that she also said at some point we can enjoy some freedom and allow certain things back into our life in moderation. That is very balanced thinking.

Well that's what I got for this week:) If you are reading along please share your thoughts! Next week chapters 16 and 17.